Whatever insects you want in your back yard for their sounds, find out what they like to eat and lure them with that. I don't know the food for crickets except my collection of books.

As for cats scratching. They do it for attention. When my cats scratch me, as soon as it hurts, I stop them. I never play rough with them, so they are gentle. The only one I couldn't stop scratching was a declawed one I adopted. She was desperate to feel that I think. Declawing is very very painful. Just because they don't scream and cry doesn't mean they are not feeling the pain. It hurts.

How are people's experiences with comic-cons that are not in San Diego? For various reasons which I won't list because I'll go into rant mode, this year's SDCC is the first one I'm going to that I'm actually not that excited for. I think mostly I'm sad that it's become more of a party theme than a way to connect with writers and artists whose work you like (I was just reading an article about SDCC after parties). I'm more interested in panels and running up to a comic creator and telling them how much I love their work and why and all that fangirl-ing stuff, and discovering other comics I might like by just roaming around the aisles. However, Edgar says he's heard that other cons, while not as huge as SDCC, are also crowded as fuck, but I imagine it can't be nearly the hassle SDCC has become. Thoughts? Experiences? I'm mostly interested in ECCC since it's on my coast, but I am also curious about C2E2 and NYCC since those are cities I want to visit eventually.

I enjoy comic cons, but I also have a social anxiety towards crowds that causes me to have a panic attack until I find somewhere spacious and reasonable quiet. That said, C2E2 was quite spacious and enjoyable, allowing you to stand around for a while and chat with cartoonists. I had no problems there and it was just wonderful!

NYCC however...VERY crowded and I freaked out. I know one person got punched by me and another was elbowed which caused them to fall down (The latter being because he shouted "Amazons! I love amazons!" and pulled me out of the crowd and wrapped his arm around my shoulder when I was trying to get out and find a Quiet Space.

FanExpo here in Toronto is another good one, and got so much better when they increased the space of the con.

ah, i might stay way from NYCC then. I don't get anxiety, but I find that SDCC is much less enjoyable for me now that I find myself fighting through crowds to get from point A to point B, where previously I used to be able to just meander about and discover things along the way, and discovering new things to read and people whose work to check out is one of the prime things about the Cons for me. So if I can't do that, well some of the fun is taken out. Thanks!

The only one I've ever been to is ECCC. It was pretty low key compared to what I imagine SDCC is like. There were plenty of people, but I didn't get too claustrophobic. Also met a couple of my favorite artists. I emailed one of them after meeting her, because she said I could. And then she wanted to do a print trade. Which we did. So I'd recommend it.

Hooray! Good to know, I'll definitely go check it out at least once if I can get the chance. I can do ECCC one year and C2E2 another. Maybe I'll brave NYCC, not sure, but if it's as crowded as Oldhat says it is I might just stick with SDCC, heh. These are all cities I do want to see at some point, so the cons might be the perfect opportunity for me to do so. :D

While Dragon*Con is not as much a comic con as it is a geek culture con, it does have a pretty impressive room full of comics creators who you can talk to and from whom you can buy stuff directly, and has plenty of comics related panels. It's crowded, sure, but I understand it's nowhere on the scale of New York or San Diego (though I haven't been to those), and you do usually get the opportunity to say a few words to the artists, especially if you go straight to the comic area early. I got to stammer some words of appreciation to David Mack, and if a shy thing like me has time to tell him I love his work, more socially adept folks might actually be able to have a short conversation.

Walking in crowds is still going to be less than ideal - it's pure Bourbon Street at Mardi Gras in the walkways between the hotels and the mall, but it's a bit less distressing, especially if claustrophobia is part of the issue, if you travel between buildings at ground level, and eat at the food court during non-peak hours.

So we have a somewhat local comic convention that's in its second year and has been building up steam, and I was wondering what advice you all might have as far as events the con can feature, or what you enjoy seeing at cons. Names of artists and writers, especially.

It's been a while since I've been here to the forum, and so I'd also like to throw here that I've missed it terribly and have been enjoying reading the content :)

For years I've been muttering to myself that if a gym opened up somewhere convenient to me I'd sign up and get in shape. This has now come back to bite me in the arse as a 24 hour gym has opened up next to me. Literally right next door to my apartment complex. Derp.

I am a socially anxious, badly overweight nerd who has never set foot in a gym in my entire life. The sight of all those fit, athletic people on their treadmills gives me the heebie-jeebies. But I know that if I don't suck it up and start getting some regular exercise I'll continue to swell up like a walrus until I keel over and die (it would also be nice to get some of those endorphins everyone keeps talking about...)

So, how should a complete noob approach the wonderful world of gym based exercise, and what should said noob expect once it is successfully approached?

#ComicConsObviously I'm a bit geographically distant from you all over the pond. I went to my first comic con last year, Thoughtbubble in Leeds UK. I loved it. It runs the same time as the Leeds Film Festival. One of the reasons we went over was to see Uncle Ellis's Ghost porn biography thing.

What hit me with Thoughtbubble was the high level of creativity in the room. So many people working on different small projects. Big names such as Bryan Talbot (Who is a very humble chap). This year our own Si is going to leave his greasy fingerprints over the whole endeavour. In all honest I came out fired up with ideas and inspiration.

I personally hate gyms and work out at home. However, things that i find make gyms easier:

1) If they have group classes, sign up for those. You'll have an instructor teaching you proper form & technique, and while it might be intimidating at first to be with other people, you'll build confidence and then learn to just not care that they can see you. I used to be really embarrassed in yoga classes when my shirt revealed my belly if we were doing inverted poses, and I learned not give a fuck when I realized that everyone else is too busy doing their pose to notice me.

2) If you can afford it, hire a personal trainer, one session is all you need. Be honest and say "hey, I'm only hiring you for the one session, can you show me how to work out properly and effectively?" Sometimes they'll even give you a workout plan to use for a couple weeks.

3) Try and find an experienced gym buddy. You might be unfit, but I personally find that people are willing to help out people below their fitness level who are genuinely trying to get healthy. I made a friend though one of my college classes who was a gym buff, so for a while i did weight with him and he told me what exercises to do for the body parts I wanted to work on and how to do them properly. And I had someone to talk to and hang out with while i was there.

4) If you can't get into a class, hire a trainer, or find a buddy, look online for sample plans (Spark People has great workout plans and a list of various exercises you can do, as well as how to do them), and scour youtube videos for how to use various machines properly. That way when you're at the gym you're not looking at a machine like an idiot (that's where i get self-conscious at the gym, trying to figure out how to use something), and you already know more or less what your workout plan for that day is. Cardio machines are less intimidating.

If you're just starting, honestly I would start with light to moderate cardio so you can start getting your heart into shape, with some weights here and there to get your muscles going. You don't want to jump right into super intense exercise and burn yourself out, or worse, injure yourself. Start off walking on the treadmill, or using the elliptical, and after a couple weeks, start adding jogging intervals (e.g. walk for a minute, jog for 20 seconds, repeat), and then you can increase the jogging intervals and work your way up to just jogging. If you hate running (like i do) try a stationary bike and do the same. I personally LOVED spinning classes and they get your heart into shape fast.

For weight training, if you're going the traditional route, you want your weight to be somewhere where you can do 8-12 reps with proper form, but get tired enough on that last rep that you almost can't hold form. That's a set. Do 3-5 sets with about a minute rest in between each set. Personally I like to do circuits because they're more efficient, but the thing with gyms is that if you leave one weight station for another to move onto the next part of your circuit, someone might take your spot, or the next machine won't be available, so you kind of just have to stay at the one machine until you've finished your sets.

All those fit, athletic people who give you the heebie-jeebies? Not to be feared. The only thing they're thinking, if in fact they're thinking anything beyond what they're going to do next in their workout, is, "hey, look at that out of shape person trying to get fit. Good for them."

Argos just gave you some of the best advice. Seriously. Argos, you are a rockstar.

And @Purple Wyrm, If you have the option, I'd definitely consider springing for a few sessions with a trainer, because those people can generally gauge your level of fitness and they can help you structure a routine based on goals you provide. Classes are good too, because most people look like assholes in group classes. Especially something like Zumba.

Unless it's a yoga class and there's that one dude who is REALLY REALLY REALLY into it, and then they're a different brand of asshole. :-P

Edited to add: If you're sheepish, you could start out with just doing cardio at the gym and then doing some body circuits in your house on a yoga mat or a towel or something. Body circuits include sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, etc.

I once had a yoga class with a girl who was REALLY REALLY into it, and in the process of getting certified to become an instructor. She pretty much just ignored what the instructor was telling us and doing her own thing, and the instructor had to pull her aside several times and tell her that if she wasn't going to do what everyone in the class was doing (and thus distracting the other students), that she needed to leave. Eventually she finally went with it, but you could tell that she really just wanted to do her own thing and was only there to get the instructor to sign her sheet so she could get her certification. But I've only had that happen once, all of my other yoga classes have been filled with awesome people. It helps that most of the ones I've taken were 8 week long classes offered at my college (though open to the community), and you had to sign up for the class, so you were always had the same group of people in your class and would eventually get used to them all. No having to deal with new people EVERY TIME.

One thing I forgot to ask about though was footwear - my shoe collection consists of one pair of old, beat up docs and one pair of slightly less old, slightly less beat up docs. I suspect that neither are exactly gym-suitable.

My options are to go and buy a pair of cheap-ass sports shoes from a cheap-ass department store, or drop in to an actual sports shoe store and get something a bit more expensive and presumably better for my feet. I'm tempted to go with the former for purely financial reasons, but wonder if I'd be doing more harm than good.